Brittany Ghiroli on frustration in O's locker room

[Uli2001]

Winning creates chemistry (and losing destroys it), not the other way around. With that said, with Cruz here this team would be winning more ballgames, and therefore there would be better chemistry. But winning is what counts, chemistry is a consequence.

[osfan83]

Jones is SOFT!

Machado is SOFT!

Davis is SOFT!

These guys can't win without Cruz or Markakis! So why pay Davis in 2016 or extend Manny, the chemistry won't be there next year so why spend the money?

[Il BuonO]

She's right, losing Delmon Young was huge.

You just can't replace below replacement level production easily. That one hurt.

Lol, she actually said that along with losing Markakis and Cruz...."can't be overstated." Really? You can debate Cruz, but not many people were in favor of signing Nick for four years and the idea that Young is a professional hitter you can't live without is laughable.

I don't get why Ghiroli is so revered around here. This isn't the first time I've found her commentary pedestrian.

[weams]

Right. The Orioles clearly don't think the same way. Also, since they were so tapped out on budget they had to trade Hunter to take on Parra's salary, who goes to keep Cruz?

Let me guess, all the hindsight dead money DFA'd guys right? Because your crystal balls said they all would fail? I think weams is probably right that Chris Davis was most likely the one non-tendered if they decided to sign Cruz. Then what?

I actually believe that he would have been traded. Like Jim Johnson was.

[OregonBird]

This is exactly, Exactly, EXACTLY what others (me?) talked about last winter. It was said that losing Miller, Cruz, and Markakis, and doing nothing to replace them, went far beyond just the numbers. It went to the swagger, the confidence, the very core of the team and it's belief that they were the best team out there. It gave hitters extreme confidence knowing that Cruz was there, ready to hit one out at anytime. No pressure. It gave pitchers confidence knowing that all they had to do was get to the 6th inning or so and the bullpen, led by Miller, was there to shut the door. No pressure. As an athlete, confidence is EVERYTHING.

Not replacing these guys? It basically told the players that no matter how much they try, the FO was not going to support them in their quest for a WS title. It placed a HUGE black cloud over the season before it even began. People were poo poo'd by some on this site for suggesting such a thing. People were bashed, made to feel ingnorant. Some were even banned.

Who's right now?

I agree with you to an extent.

Every ball player that has played in college or higher that I know is at least somewhat of a head case. Not necessarily in a bad way. Whether it's being superstitious, wanting to throw to a certain catcher, having a certain routine, or whatever, every athlete is trying to get themselves comfortable to "do what they do" and be confident. Disrupt their comfort zone and it isn't pretty.

No doubt in my mind that early on these guys missed Cruz. They will say all the right things but each guy in that room KNOWS who the stars are. They know who can carry a team. They know who is clutch and who isn't. They know who is smoking the ball but or throwing the ball well and just having bad results versus a guy who has fluke luck but getting results. Nobody was thinking to themselves "Yeah, but we got Travis Snider so were gtg".

I'm wondering if what these guys really need is to get out of their own heads. They don't have a stopper to win a game when a streak is materializing. They don't have a clutch hitter to work a count and get a hit when the game is on the line and there are men on. In other words, are they pressing? Too many guys trying to do things they can't do, rather than what they can do?

[33rdst]

Could the presence of one or more players effect the performance of other players on the team? Seems like you could figure that out. One way would be to simply ask the other players. I think those questions have been asked and they have been answered.

[weams]

I don't get why Ghiroli is so revered around here. This isn't the first time I've found her commentary pedestrian.

I think she writes well and is a fan of the Hangout. So those may be reasons. I know I got a text from her while I was at a Pat Metheny concert a few years back about a hotness" survey that was occurring on our Orioles Talk that was comparing her to Amber. She took it in good stride. She's a nice person and reads this site religiously. She at least knows as much about the inner workings of the clubhouse and the team as Peter Schmuck and he gets a pretty easy pass when he does a piece to get attention.

[clapdiddy]

I think she writes well and is a fan of the Hangout. So those may be reasons. I know I got a text from her while I was at a Pat Metheny concert a few years back about a hotness" survey that was occurring on our Orioles Talk that was comparing her to Amber. She took it in good stride. She's a nice person and reads this site religiously. She at least knows as much about the inner workings of the clubhouse and the team as Peter Schmuck and he gets a pretty easy pass when he does a piece to get attention.

When was the last time Schmuck wrote anything attention worthy about the Orioles? I'm not being sarcastic...I'd really like to know.

[Redskins Rick]

I think she writes well and is a fan of the Hangout. So those may be reasons. I know I got a text from her while I was at a Pat Metheny concert a few years back about a hotness" survey that was occurring on our Orioles Talk that was comparing her to Amber. She took it in good stride. She's a nice person and reads this site religiously. She at least knows as much about the inner workings of the clubhouse and the team as Peter Schmuck and he gets a pretty easy pass when he does a piece to get attention.

I like Britt and she does a good job, but IMO, I think Roch and Encino are more in tune with the clubhouse, and thats no dig at Britt.

[Reboulet'sStache]

What some of these people forget however, is that there is a perfectly acceptable subjective method, used by many statisticians, that has been very useful in determining a given variables impact,the use of anecdotal information. I.e. Surveys, questionnaires, interviews,etc.

Which her piece has none. It's just her sitting around saying, "If only this team had two bad baseball players..."

[weams]

While we were all wondering about the unusual tweet from Bud Norris during spring training two years back, the Hangout was aware that Brooks had not passed and that Buck was in good health because Britt texted me several hours before to let me know that her friend Monica had passed. So if she decides to get a little attention with a negative clubhouse piece, I'm in her corner.

[33rdst]

Which her piece has none. It's just her sitting around saying' date=' "If only this team had two bad baseball players..."[/quote']

Doesn't she interview players all of the time? Her comments regarding Young seem to indicate she had received feedback from the team.

[weams]

When was the last time Schmuck wrote anything attention worthy about the Orioles? I'm not being sarcastic...I'd really like to know.

He is usually the one to go negative and rogue. And Roch did a bit of that too during the Duquette saga. You have to have a persona and be looked at as a personality today to have a writing gig.

[weams]

Doesn't she interview players all of the time? Her comments regarding Young seem to indicate she had received feedback from the team.

The team did like Delmon. On several levels. And the nose dive does coincide.

[Reboulet'sStache]

Doesn't she interview players all of the time? Her comments regarding Young seem to indicate she had received feedback from the team.

Her comments regarding everything read as nothing more than her beliefs. There is nothing to indicate she received feedback from anybody.